All the Time in the World
by mkaz
Summary: Here's yet another possible ending to Beastly: the movie, which combines both the original ending and the alternative ending not shown in the theatres. What if Lindy got tired of Hunter/Kyle's silence and gave up on him? What if Lindy wasn't as safe as her father said she was? How far would you go to save the one you love? Kyle's about to find out...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Beastly. I just have fun with the story.

Explanation: My own twist on the movie ending. Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

"I don't understand," Will told Kyle in his plain-spoken way. "Why won't you talk to her? The last time I talked to her, she told me she was hurt, which is girl-speak for 'call now, bonehead!'"

"She don't know what to do, so she go back to school, to go on the trip," Zola added.

Looking at his only two friends, Kyle realized that this was his last chance. Not his chance to break the spell; he'd already accepted that would probably never happen now. It was his last chance to make things right with Lindy.

He went upstairs to change his clothes, and realized he'd left his phone in his room. Holding it up, he saw that once again, there was a voicemail waiting for him. He kicked himself for not having it with him. It was Lindy again, probably trying to work things out. He was tempted to just ignore it and head out as quickly as he could so he could get to her, but he still wanted to hear the message – to hear her voice. Kyle fumbled awkwardly with his shirt, trying to put it on with one arm while he held the phone to his ear with the other to hear the message.

Sure enough, it was Lindy. But her voice was different, changed. She wasn't pleading anymore. It was cold, and hard.

"So I've been waiting around, and hoping for an answer from you, thinking eventually you'd come see me, or call me, or hell, just send me a lame-assed text or something. But nothing. And you know what I finally figured out? Sometimes, no answer is an answer. So I get it. I won't bother you anymore! Have a nice life!"

Kyle felt like he'd been struck to the chest with something as the message ended. He bolted from his room, frantically running down the stairs while he dialed Lindy's number. The phone rang, then went to voicemail.

No, no, no. She'd given up on him. She thought he didn't care. He tried again, the phone trembling against his ear as he prayed that she would answer. She didn't. He growled in frustration and hung up as her voicemail picked up.

Kyle started up his bike, bringing it to life with a guttural roar as he sped down the street back to Buckston Academy. Steering with one hand, he tried her again, this time leaving a message. "Lindy, it's me. I've been an idiot, I know, but please, don't go on that trip to Machu Pichu! I'm on my way to school to meet you, just wait for me! Please!"

The drive to Buckston seemed to take an eternity, even with Kyle practically breaking land speed records and several traffic laws to get there. Finally he arrived, and for once, didn't bother to stop and think of his scars. He had no time for that. He bolted off of his bike, running across the street and throwing open the doors to the school.

People, some of them ones he used to know, stopped in their tracks when they saw him. Kyle didn't care. He made his way to the main lobby, where there was a line of kids waiting for the bus to the airport. He scanned the line quickly, barely noticing the looks of shock and revulsion he got. Finally he stopped at the first person waiting. It was a girl named Annie, who was overweight, with thick glasses and braces. He and his group used to make fun of her, he remembered. Guilt pored over him for his previous actions as he asked her in barely a whisper, "Lindy Taylor. Have you seen Lindy Taylor?"

Annie's eyes were wide with horror, staring at him. But she managed to reply. "She's not here. She didn't come."

"Where? Please Annie, where?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How did you-"

"Please!" He cried out. "Where is she?"

She swallowed in anxiety. "Home, I think."

Without another word, Kyle raced out of the school, nearly colliding with a teacher who was coming to see what the ruckus was about. He darted out of the doors and took off towards Lindy's apartment, not bothering to take his bike. It was several blocks, but he could run it. He took out his cell and tried to call her again, and once again got her voicemail.

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. His lungs felt like they were on fire, and the wind created by his vigorous running seemed to seep into his scars and burn him. He didn't care. He kept on.

Finally he was there, just across the street from Lindy's building. And that's when he saw something that made his racing heart feel like it stopped dead in his chest.

It was that scumbag Victor, Lindy's father's dealer, quietly exiting the building. His arm was tucked into his jacket, and he was looking around cautiously, like he didn't want anyone looking at him.

"God," Kyle whispered. "God, no."

Lindy's father had texted his daughter that Victor was arrested, but the son of a bitch must have gotten out on bail. And once he was out, he had only one thing that he needed to do.

Kyle bolted across the road, not bothering to heed the angry honks of cars trying to pass. By the time he got to the building, Victor was already gone. His hands were shaking so hard he could barely grasp the handle of the door. Somehow he managed, and he flew up the three flights of stairs to Lindy's apartment.

When he got to number 205, he pounded on the cream-colored door. "Lindy! Lindy, please, let me in!" But no one answered. Finally, Kyle took a step back, squared his shoulders, and kicked in the door, wood splintering and flying in all directions as it gave way under the force of his foot.

Lindy was there, and at first, Kyle was confused. He couldn't understand why she was just lying there on the floor, staring back at him.

He was on his knees at her side before he even realized how he'd gotten there. "Lindy?" he asked gently. He slid an arm under her back, pulling her into his embrace. He brushed her dark hair away from her face. He held her very close to him. Her gaze didn't change. It was still far away, empty. The look in her eyes, combined with the blood seeping out of a hole in her forehead, finally made Kyle realize that she couldn't see him anymore.

Great, heaving sobs tore through his chest as he cradled her. He felt like someone had ripped out his heart, his guts. Tears flowed freely from his eyes, dripping into his mouth, down his throat, but he didn't care. His sobs grew louder and longer, more and more and more until they erupted into a thunderous, primal scream.

This was all his fault. He was never so sure of anything in his life. Kendra had been right. He didn't care about anyone but himself. Because if he did, he would have come to Lindy when she asked for him. But instead he let her think that he didn't care about her. And she died thinking that he didn't care about her. She was all alone in this place when that bastard came to take her life.

He didn't know how long he sat there on the floor, rocking Lindy in his arms. Time seemed to stop as he tried to process what had happened. But he couldn't. He couldn't accept he'd lost her. Even though he knew what he'd seen, even though he felt her sticky red blood staining his skin and matting his clothes. He couldn't accept that Lindy was gone.

Because if Lindy was gone, there was nothing left for him. There would be no more world. And it couldn't end like this – it just couldn't. Not after he knew that magic was real…

"Magic," he whispered softly.

Magic.

"Kendra?" Kyle uttered. It wasn't a statement, it was a conjuring, a summoning. "Kendra!" he called out the witch's name. "Kendra!" he cried again.

"Keeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnndddraaaaaaaaaa!" he wailed now, imploring her to come to him.

"Yes, Kyle?" he heard a voice beside him. He turned to see Kendra there, kneeling next to him.

"Please," he groaned, his voice breaking with agony. "Please bring her back."

She stared at him, her green eyes hard. "I can't do that. I'm sorry."

He glared at her. "Yes, you can. You have magic-"

"And there are some things that even magic can't do," she informed him. "Lindy is a mortal, and her life ended in a very mortal way. There's nothing I can do." She got up and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Kyle cried. Gently he laid Lindy's body down on the ground and stalked over to Kendra, grabbing her arm roughly and turning her around. "It wasn't supposed to end like this. You know that."

"You're right, Kyle. It could have ended very differently," Kendra replied coldly. "You could have answered Lindy's calls. You could have accepted the friendship she wanted to offer. If you had, perhaps she wouldn't have been alone in this apartment when Victor decided to come after her. But you didn't. You shut her out. Life is full of regrets, Kyle."

Kyle scowled. "How can you be so cruel? I know, I was wrong. I screwed up. But Lindy shouldn't have to pay for my mistake! She didn't deserve this, she deserves a second chance!" Then it dawned on him. He remembered one of his first conversations with Kendra. "Everyone deserves a second chance. You told me that," he reminded her.

Kendra stared at him for a moment, but then she broke her gaze and turned away in frustration. "Oh, I can't! What you're asking me to do, it's nearly impossible."

"But it is possible," Kyle pointed out, his heart pounding with hope. "Whatever it is you're thinking about, it can be done."

Kendra sighed. "Yes, yes, it can be done, but it's risky! It might not work at all, I don't know! And I'd be breaking a whole lot of rules to do this."

"What is it?" Kyle pleaded. "Please, just tell me what you could do."

Kendra crossed her arms. "I can't restore Lindy's life, but I can send you back to before this whole thing happened. If you can get to her in time, you can save her."

Kyle laughed nervously. "Okay, great. So what do we need to do?"

"Hold on there, cowboy," Kendra said. "It's not as simple as it sounds. There are some things you need to know."

"Like?"

"Like, it's not an exact science. I will do my best to send you back to a reasonable point in time, but time travel is a very difficult spell. I could send you back a week, a month, maybe a year. Or, maybe many years before this all happened. Let that sink in: I could send you back 20 years into the past. You'd have to wait for Lindy to be born to be with her, and you'd be a much older man. Are you willing to accept that?"

"Yes," Kyle said without hesitation. "As long as she's alive, it doesn't matter."

"Hmph. I sure hope so. Another thing. If you travel too far into the past, you might accidentally alter some things other than what you actually want to change. Even one small thing you do-"

"Yeah, yeah, the Butterfly Effect, I know. I saw the movie. I need to be careful."

"Well, just be aware that by traveling in time, you may cause something else to happen that you weren't expecting. You may save Lindy, but you might inadvertently cause someone else you care about to die. You'll need to accept that too."

Kyle took a deep breath, trying to process everything the witch was telling him. "Okay, I understand. Anything else?"

Kendra looked at him guiltily. "Just one more thing. When the others like me find out what I've done, they aren't going to be happy. There may be a price you'll need to pay for saving Lindy's life. I don't know what it is, but it could be steep. I don't know."

He shook his head. "I don't care what the price is. I can't live without her. That's the only price I can't pay."

Kendra sighed sadly. "There's no way I can talk you out of this, is there? Even with all the risks?"

Kyle's gaze was like steel. "No way at all."

"All right," the witch relented, her arms dropping to the sides. "Give me a second to get ready. Go stand in the center of the room."

Kyle complied with her orders, passing Lindy's body as he went to stand in the spot Kendra directed him to. "I'll see you soon," he told her. "I'll make this right, I promise."

He looked up to see Kendra standing completely still across from him, her eyes glowing. "Kyle?" she asked.

"Yes, Kendra?" he said.

"Good luck."

With that, everything went black. Kyle felt the ground slip away from his feet, the pressure of the air around him dissipate into nothing. He felt as though he were moving and standing still at the same time. He thought he was going to be sick, but you have to have a stomach to be sick. He wasn't sure if he had a body at all.

He had to focus. He was going to get to Lindy. And nothing else mattered. The last two weeks didn't matter. Being abandoned by his father didn't matter. And the heartless, self-centered jerk he used to be didn't matter anymore either. That life was no life at all. Not before she came along.

And there would be no life after, if he failed…

No! No, he wasn't going to fail. He couldn't. Even if Kendra's magic faltered and sent him a hundred years into the past, he'd find a way to save her. There was no other choice.

Kyle lost track of how long this nothingness seemed to last, until at last he felt like someone had dropped him to the ground roughly, and the light came back all at once.

He groaned, shaking off the feeling of vertigo, and struggled to see and make sense of where he was…

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

He groaned as his vision came back to him. He was standing in the dining room of the house in Brooklyn. Good. Well, at least Kendra had sent him back in time within the last year.

"Kyle? Hey. Earth to Kyle?"

Kyle turned his pained eyes downward towards the sound of the voice. It was Will, staring in his direction, along with Zola sitting on the other side of him.

"I-I'm sorry. What?"

Zola frowned. "You say you don't want to call Lindy back-"

And instantly, Kyle knew where he was. "Yes! Kendra did it!" he shouted triumphantly. "I gotta go!" Ignoring his friends confused responses, he darted out of the house as fast as his feet would take him, hopped on his bike, and sped away.

He was three blocks away from home when he realized he was still in his pajamas, he had no shoes on, and worst of all, he'd left his cell in his room. "Screw it," he said aloud to himself. He sure as hell wasn't going to turn back and waste any more time.

He had to hope that by not passing by Buckston this time, and heading straight for Lindy's apartment, he would get there in time to stop Victor. Of course, not having his phone, he wasn't able to call her and warn her about him. Not that she'd even take his call now, he thought bitterly. She was too hurt and angry.

That was okay. She could hate him if that's what she felt. It didn't matter. As long as Lindy was in the world, he would be happy. Hot tears began to form in his eyes as he thought of his, but he grunted in frustration and wiped them away, slamming on the accelerator and tearing down the bridge like a bat out of hell.

* * *

Lindy sat on her bed, her suitcase still packed and sitting next to her. She knew she was missing the bus to Machu Pichu. She knew this was what she'd wanted to do for a long time, so…why couldn't she go? It was clear Hunter didn't want to be her friend, much less have anything to do with her. Why couldn't she just write him off and go on the trip?

She knew why. It was that damn letter.

She reached into the pocket of her sweater and pulled out the crumpled pink pages Hunter had written to her. She began to read them again, but she stopped herself. "Don't do this to yourself, Lindy," she said out loud. She knew she needed to just throw them away, cut her losses. She got up and started to walk over to the trashcan, but she stopped. She just couldn't do it.

She loved him.

She knew it now. She couldn't say it that night when he'd driven her to the station. She was too wrapped up in worrying about her dad. And she didn't know how Hunter felt, anyway. She wanted to leave with something to show how grateful she was for everything he'd done for her. So why not say he was a good friend? It was the truth – he was one of the closest and dearest friends she'd ever had, and hadn't had many in her life. Having a drug addict for a father meant she had to keep people at arm's length. But it wasn't the case with Hunter. She felt like she could be herself, talk about herself – and he wouldn't judge her.

She would call him again. Maybe this time would be different - maybe he'd heard all of the messages she'd left him. She was sure he had; she had talked to Will to make sure Hunter wasn't sick or something, and Will promised to pass her messages on to Hunter. Maybe this time…he would answer.

She dialed his number. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard the first ring. Then there was a second ring. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. Then came the voicemail and the sound of his voice asking dryly for the caller to leave a message.

And Lindy felt the anger boil inside her. That was it. Even if she loved him – even if his letter claimed he loved her – she was done.

"So I've been waiting around," she began, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice, "And hoping for an answer from you, thinking eventually you'd come see me, or call me, or hell, just send me a lame-assed text or something. But nothing. And you know what I finally figured out? Sometimes, no answer is an answer. So I get it. I won't bother you anymore! Have a nice life!"

She ended the call and threw the phone on her bed in frustration. She felt a sob beginning to well up in her chest, and she put her hand to her mouth to stop it. No, damn it. She wasn't going to cry. She didn't cry when her dad forced her to live with a stranger, didn't cry when he was in the hospital recovering from an overdose. She wasn't going to cry now. He wasn't worth it.

Lindy took a deep, shuddering breath, smoothed her hair, and calmly began unpacking her suitcase. While she unpacked, she thought about what she needed to do next. She'd just wasted hundreds of dollars by not going on the trip, and that pissed her off, but she would be fine. She would take some summer classes so she could graduate during the winter. She'd keep working at the clinic, but she'd look for a second part time job so she could earn back the money she'd lost on the Machu Pichu trip. She'd be okay. She'd always been able to take care of herself, and she still would.

She was halfway through unpacking the suitcase when there was a knock on her door. Frowning, she turned back in the direction of the door. She wasn't expecting anyone, and her dad was still in the hospital, so it wasn't him. The possibility of it being Hunter crossed her mind, but she quickly shook it away. No, he wasn't coming back. No use holding on to false hope.

She went to the door and opened it, and the person on the other side made her blood run cold in her veins.

"Victor!" she whispered, shocked.

She tried to close the door, but he blocked it with his hand and threw it open, then thrust the other arm into the inside of his jacket.

Just then, there was the thunder of running footsteps approaching the door, and Victor was knocked clear off his feet by the blur of another person, tackling him.

It was Hunter. He was on top of Victor, wrestling the gun away from him. He turned his head for a quick second to say, "Lindy, get back inside!"

Lindy darted back in the apartment, but she didn't close the door. She took quick peaks out of the doorway to see the two men fighting in the hallway. Finally Hunter had Victor pinned to the floor and he knocked the gun out of his hand, sending it skidding across the carpet, towards Lindy. She scurried over to where it lay and picked it up, retreating quickly back into her home.

Victor had managed to regain enough ground that he was on his side with Hunter facing him. "Who the hell are you, man?" he grunted.

"I'm H.G.-freakin'-Welles, asshole!" Hunter shouted at him.

In response, Victor reached into the back pocket of his jeans and thrust something towards Hunter. He gasped, feeling a blade sharply burrow into him. He glared at his attacker, who merely smirked and said, "Doesn't matter who you are anyway. That bitch is mine." Victor pulled the knife out of Hunter's chest. He shakily got to his feet and started back towards Lindy's apartment.

But Lindy was there to meet Victor – with his own gun. She held up the weapon and fired twice at his chest, the look in her eyes hot enough to melt steel. The thug fell to the ground with a leaden thud.

Lindy threw the gun aside and ran to Hunter, still lying on the ground. They smiled gently at each other as Hunter took her hand. Then Lindy realized that he had been stabbed, and blood was pouring out of the wound.

"Oh!" she gasped, quickly taking off her sweater and pressing it to the wound. "I have to call the police!"

But Hunter held her to him. "No! Don't go!"

"I have to. You're hurt!"

"I don't feel it. I don't feel anything. Just…happy that we're together."

"Please. Let me get help!" Lindy once again tried to get up to get her phone, but Hunter wouldn't let go.

"I need to tell you something," he rasped.

"What?" she asked in a whisper.

"I-first, I'm sorry I wouldn't talk to you."

Lindy gave a sobbing laugh. As if that even mattered anymore! "It's okay, Hunter. I know you were hurt by what I said."

_Hunter_. She called him Hunter. She didn't know the truth. And she needed to know. "Also…I was someone else. So ugly. You knew me."

"Wha-what are you talking about?" Lindy thought he was being delirious from the wound. She needed to call for help now, whether he wanted it or not. With a mighty tug she broke away from him and ran back into her apartment to retrieve the phone. She flew back to him and once again took his hand, calling the police and telling them what happened.

"Yes, he's been stabbed. Please hurry! I don't think he has much time!" she pleaded with the 911 operator. "Okay, thank you." She hung up and smiled over him. "They're on their way. You'll be fine."

Hunter smiled. He knew better. He knew how serious the wound was. Maybe this was part of the "steep price" Kendra had told him about. His life, in exchange for Lindy's. A small price to pay, really, when he thought about it.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters…is that you saw me. Even with how ugly I am. You saw me."

Lindy gripped his hand tighter. "You are not ugly!" she told him fiercely. "You're the most beautiful man I ever met. And I love you." Hunter sighed and ran his hand gently through her hair. It was too late. He was out of time. He wasn't going to get any more. But it didn't matter. He had saved the girl he loved from dying. She was safe and she would go on and live. And that was good, and right. It was the only thing he wanted, and he got it.

He couldn't feel his body anymore, couldn't feel Lindy's hand in his. He was so sleepy. Everything around him was growing dimmer and dimmer. Even Lindy's glowing face was beginning to wane. The last thing he could see clearly were the tears in Lindy's eyes, shining like diamonds. With the last bit of strength he had, he reached up and gently wiped a tear away. He didn't want her to cry. This was the happiest moment of his life, knowing she was alive and that she loved him. But he couldn't explain it to her. He didn't have the strength anymore.

"I love you," he just barely heard her say. "I love you! Please don't leave me."

"I…" Kyle began, wanting to say it to her too. But his lips wouldn't move. Everything had gone dark now, even Lindy's face. His last thought was what he wanted to say.

_I love you too, Lindy. I always will._

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

As Lindy lay sobbing in the hallway of her apartment building, the body of the boy she loved in her arms, there were countless wonders happening around her that she was not aware of.

Let us not dwell on the fact that no one in her building had seen or heard any of the things that had just taken place. It was the least of the great wonders to know that the spectacle of her pain and sorrow had been blocked out by magic, so that the bodies of her hero and the cold-hearted drug dealer who had tried to kill her were not visible to the human eye.

Let us instead remember that in an alternate timeline, Lindy's and Kyle's roles were reversed, and it was Kyle who grieved for the loss of his soulmate. That Lindy had opened the door to her apartment, and Victor was there, a silencer fitted neatly to his .38 special. And when he pushed his way into her home and held the gun to her head, a thousand thoughts flew through her mind in the mere seconds between the pulling of the trigger and the bullet hitting the mark.

If we were to try to capture these thousand thoughts and weave them into a cohesive whole, the point would be this: Lindy would realize that throughout her entire life, she'd always been let down. Her mother, who was supposed to be her protector, nurturer, and first friend, had gone and died and left her at the mercy of a drug addict. Her father had left her in the care of a complete stranger because he'd been blackmailed, and he lied about Lindy now being safe. He himself was safe, tucked away all warm and cozy in a hospital bed while Lindy paid for his crimes. And there was Hunter, who claimed in his letter that he loved her, but had also abandoned her, like everyone else.

It occurred to her while Victor squeezed the trigger, that he was the only one who'd ever truly kept his promise. He said that someday he'd find her, and he did. The sad irony of this realization was what Lindy was thinking of when she died.

But none of that happened. Instead, Kyle proved that Lindy had been wrong about him, that he was the rock in the stormy sea of her life. He rewrote the timeline so that they could switch places, so that he could give his life for her.

And Lindy thought she could die from the pain it now caused.

Perhaps the greatest wonder that Lindy was not aware of was the fact that Hunter was still alive. His heartbeat may have slowed to a crawl, but a faint, fuzzy pulse was still there, practically undetectable. The wound he'd been dealt was healing at an incredible rate, an impossible feat by medical standards. Lindy was only vaguely aware of the sweet scent of rose petals in the air as it happened.

Then, she felt Hunter's arm, previously lying limp next to her, rise up very slowly and wrap around her waist. Lindy stopped sobbing and froze in place, her head still pressed to his chest. She was hallucinating. She had to be. She couldn't accept Hunter was gone so she was imagining that he was still alive.

But then she felt him take a deep breath in, his diaphragm expand and contract in a smooth, strong motion. Lindy gasped, jumping up to see what she hoped to see but could barely believe was happening.

His eyes opened and he was looking up at her. Slowly his lips parted and he smiled. "Hey," he said simply.

She just gaped at him, her mouth hanging open. She tried to form words, but nothing came out. He slowly sat up, grunting slightly with the effort, then looked down at his bare chest. There was a large bloodstain, but the wound was gone, the skin unbroken. There was no pain at all.

He looked up again at her and gave a light laugh. "I'm okay. I'm alive!"

Lindy finally was able to utter a single word. "H-h-how?"

Before he could say anything, Lindy started to blubber, "Y-you were stabbed, and-and you lost so much blood. And your heart stopped and you were so still, and-and…" She trailed off as she started to cry, the emotional weight of losing him and getting him back hitting her with the force of a punch to the gut.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm fine," he said gently, pulling her into his arms to rock her while she sobbed.

"Hunter…oh God, Hunter. I thought I'd lost you," she cried.

In the midst of the joy of realizing he was still alive and having Lindy in his arms, Kyle was only barely conscious of the fact that although Lindy had told him she loved him, he was still in his cursed form. She didn't recognize him as Kyle.

Finally, she pulled away, sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes. "How is it possible? I don't understand."

"I think I can answer your questions," a voice said. Kyle and Lindy turned to see Kendra standing in the hallway, a few feet away from where they sat.

"Kendra!" Kyle exclaimed, getting to his feet and helping Lindy get up too.

The witch smiled kindly. "Congratulations, Kyle. You saved her."

Lindy pulled away from him. "Kyle? Wha-Hunter, what is she talking about?"

Kyle turned to Lindy with a guilty smile on his face. "Kendra's right, Lindy. It's me, Kyle Kingson. It's been me all along."

Lindy shook her head, her eyes wide. "No. No, you don't look anything like him-"

"Yes, that was my doing," Kendra spoke up. "I decided to teach Kyle a lesson, to punish him for being an arrogant, superficial, vain, dickish-"

"Okay, okay, we got it, Kendra," Kyle interrupted, holding up a hand. "It was a curse, and it could only be broken if I found someone who could love me in spite of what I looked like. And," he said, taking Lindy's hand with a smile, "I found you."

Lindy slipped her hand out of Kyle's. "I guess I didn't tell you in enough time. You…you still look like…Hunter," she replied, trying to find a way to not be insulting about his scarred, tattooed appearance.

"Actually, I have to take the fall for that one," Kendra spoke up. "Kyle, remember I told you that there might be a steep price to pay for traveling back in time? Well, this was it. You see, the Powers that Be allowed me to heal your wound and to give Zola and Will the gifts I promised you, but they've blocked the part of the spell that would allow you to revert back to your original form. It's my punishment, and yours, for altering the timeline."

"Altering the timeline?" Lindy repeated. "Okay, this is just got a whole lot weirder. I don't get it. So you were cursed AND you traveled back in time?"

"Yeah," Kyle said. "You see, the first time around, Victor…got to you before I did." He shut his eyes tightly, trying to block out the terrible memory of finding her dead. "So I begged Kendra to send me back in time before it happened so that I could save you. And she did."

Lindy looked down incredulously at the ground, at a small patch of blood that stained the carpet. "So you mean…I was the one who died?"

"Yeah," Kyle whispered.

"His love for you is immense," Kendra added. "I couldn't say no, no matter how much I wanted to. But there are now great consequences to what I've done."

"Consequences?" Kyle asked. "How could this be anything but good?"

"We've altered the world, Kyle," Kendra explained. "There are generations of people that are now going to be born that weren't going to be there previously, and there are going to be people who are not going to be born that were supposed to as a result. Butterfly Effect, remember?" Kyle nodded. "Well, as punishment, you are trapped in this form. I'm very sorry, Kyle. I tried to negotiate with them, reason with them. But this was the only way they would allow me to do all the other good things I've been able to do."

Kyle looked down at his hands, his arms. He looked at the twisting tattoos, felt the deep scars on his face. And he realized something: it didn't matter to him. He knew Lindy loved him in spite of them. He had wonderful, supportive friends in Will and Zola, who were going to get the rewards they deserved. He'd managed to conquer his fear today and go to Buckston to look for Lindy, despite knowing all those people would see him. He remembered what he'd told Kendra before: that losing Lindy was the only price he couldn't pay. And that was still the truth. He would learn to live this way.

"It's okay, Kendra," Kyle told the witch. "I made my bed. But what about you? Did you get…punished too?"

Kendra smiled sadly. "I did. After I leave here, I'm forbidden to practice magic for 100 years."

"A hundred years?" Lindy cried out. "Kendra, you can't be any more than 18."

The witch chuckled. "Well, aren't you sweet. One hundred years might seem like a lot in mortal time, but it's not really that much to my kind. I will miss doing magic though," Kendra sighed, then grinned wickedly. "I told them that I didn't regret a thing – this was my most favorite spell I've ever cast, and it's the truth. You should have seen their faces."

Kyle returned the grin. "I'm sorry that had to happen to you."

She shook her head. "Like I said, I don't regret a thing. Well, I have to go now. I'll take care of disposing of Victor for you. I might not be an enchantress anymore, but I can still take out the trash." She turned to go, then stopped and turned back. "One other thing, Kyle. I might not be able to reverse the spell, but there are those in other parts of the world that have access to powerful magic. Look for them; one of them might be able to help you."

Kyle smiled. "Thanks, Kendra. For everything."

The witch did not smile, but she gave a small curtsy, and with a wave of her hand, disappeared into thin air, along with Victor's body.

Kyle looked at Lindy, who was still staring ahead, in the spot where Kendra had just been standing before she disappeared. "Lindy?" he asked quietly, hopefully.

She slowly turned to look at him. Without a word, she walked past him and back into her apartment. Kyle followed after her, and he found her leaning on the window sill, her arms crossed. He reached out to touch her, but he stopped, uncertain how she would react to it. They stood there together in silence for several minutes.

"Are you all right?" he finally asked her.

Lindy slowed raised her eyes to him, and gave a short laugh. "I honestly don't know. I'm just…trying to process all of this. I don't know where to begin. I started the day thinking I knew one thing, and now…everything I thought I knew and believed…it's all changed."

"It's still me, Lindy. It always was me. I love you. I always have."

Lindy frowned when she heard this, then looked down at herself. "I need to shower. I've got…I've got blood on me." Without waiting for Kyle to answer, she got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Kyle stood by the window, staring out at the busy city afternoon. He would have to become part of that world again, he knew. He'd avoided it as long as he could, enabled by his father's efforts to isolate him. But he couldn't shut himself away anymore – not if he wanted to hold on to Lindy.

He could only hope she'd come around. He knew that this was a lot for anyone to take in: magic, time travel, witches, curses. He knew he needed to be patient with her, despite patience never being his strong suit. As much as he wanted to show her how much he loved her, he knew he needed to do this at her pace, in her time.

Finally, Kyle heard a door shut, and Lindy came out of the bathroom, wearing a grey tank and black sweat pants. Her hair was still damp from the shower and clung to her face and shoulders. She was the most beautiful thing in the world to him.

When she saw how he was looking at her, she looked away. "So…I guess Kendra cursed you the night of the dance, right?" she asked, moving over to the sofa and sitting down.

"Right," Kyle answered, following her to the sofa. He sat down next to her, but with several inches of space between them.

Lindy cleared her throat. "I-thank you for saving me. I want you to know that…I'm grateful for what you gave up to save my life."

Kyle started to say something, then thought better of it and mumbled "you're welcome" while looking down at his lap.

"Kyle?" Lindy asked.

"Yeah?"

"It is you, isn't it? All those things you told me, the time we spent together, it was all real, wasn't it?"

He slowly turned to look at her. "Yeah, everything. You know, I'd been thinking about it while you were in the shower, and I think that…I loved you right from the beginning. From that first time at the dance when we talked. Deep down, I knew I was in love with you right from the start."

Lindy scooted closer to him. Cautiously she reached out and gently touched his face, running the pads of her fingers over the scars. Kyle closed his eyes, basking in the feeling of being touched – a pleasure he'd been denied for so long. He opened his eyes just long enough to see Lindy lean in and kiss him softly on the lips.

His hands came up to her shoulders, caressing her neck, her hair. He knew he should go slowly – he shouldn't come on too strong. But he couldn't help himself. He returned the kiss with great intensity, and found, much to his delight, that his intensity was more than matched. Lindy's arms wrapped around his neck, and she climbed into his lap, her lips never leaving his. They were frenzied, hungry, passionate.

Finally, Lindy broke off the kiss and caught her breath. "I love you too." She began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Kyle asked, hugging her close.

"Nothing, really. Just when you find out the guy you've had a crush on for three years that you didn't think would give you the time of day and the guy who broke the universe to save you are the same dude, it's a little mind blowing, that's all."

Kyle looked away bitterly. "Yeah, I can see why you'd have a crush on that guy. He was gorgeous. Not so much this guy," he pointed out, gesturing to himself. "The old Kyle could give you so much more. But now…well, I can understand if you'd want that."

Lindy looked bewildered. "You think that I don't-oh my God." She kissed him again. "You silly ass. You are not ugly!" She turned to face him, straddling his lap. "I want _you_ – any way that I can have you."

Kyle's heart skipped a beat at these words, but he still wasn't sure. "But-"

"Nope, shush. You're mine now. You don't get to put yourself down. I won't let anything that belongs to me get trashed, you understand me?"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Lindy smiled. "Good. Kyle…for reals, though, we'll find a way to live. I know we will."

They held each other for a long time. Finally, Lindy heard Kyle mumble from the crook of her neck, "Will you come back home now?"

Those words, spoken with such vulnerability and love, made Lindy's heart soar. And there was only one answer.

"Definitely."

So they rode back to the home they'd made together, back to their friends who welcomed them with unconditional love. And they would have busy days to spend together-learning and living and working and growing-and passionate nights to discover each other in ways no one else ever had.

And maybe, just maybe, Kyle would someday find someone with powers great enough to reverse the spell. But he would not dwell on the possibility too much. After all, he had Lindy, and together, they had all the time in the world.


End file.
